I'm Still Me
by daqu
Summary: [takes place during X2&3]Excerpt: Heidi couldn’t believe what Magneto was telling her. Couldn’t he see that she was still the same person he had wanted so badly just hours before? Full Summary Inside.
1. A New Power

Summary: After the death of her mother, Heidi Wolk discovered that she had an interesting power: if she touches anything with enough hatred, it dies. For the past sixteen years Heidi has been spoiled rotten, but when she discovers her power she realizes that she needs to leave Germany—and all her secrets—behind, and sets off for New York, where she finds Xavier's school. Once she gets there, she becomes instant friends with Rogue and starts to develop a crush on Pyro. Basically, life is working out well, but what happens when a secret she's been keeping from her friends leaks out and she discovers that even the enemy has no sympathy for her? Who will she turn to?

Heidi walked out of her parents' mansion and stopped to take in the scent of the world around her. She could smell her mother's flowers and even the lush grass beneath her bare feet. If there was one thing Heidi loved about her life more than anything else it was all her money. Her family was one of the wealthiest in all of Germany as far as she knew. She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to know where all their money came from, but nevertheless she enjoyed all the luxuries it provided her.

"Heidi!" Heidi's head flung around at the sound of her father's voice. He was sticking his head out his bedroom window and looked depressed, which immediately told Heidi that something was wrong. Her father was never depressed. "Heidi, there's something you should know. Come here."

Heidi was growing more and more confused and apprehensive. Did this have something to do with her mother? She raced up to her parents' bedroom and her father met her at his door. "Heidi, your mother is dead."

"Since when!" Heidi asked in amazement. "The doctors said they were going to save her!" Heidi's mother had been very sick for the past couple of months, but Heidi had never even considered the fact that she would die from it.

"The hospital just called. I have to go make funeral arrangements. Do you want to come?"

"No!" Heidi wasn't even sure she wanted to go to her mother's funeral at all. She just needed to get out of here. Her body felt numb. What did she ever do to deserve this? She was only sixteen years old! She wasn't ready to go on without her mother. Without her mother, she knew that her father would become overwhelmed with grief and become even worse than he already was. Heidi's mother was the only one who could ever keep him in check. Heidi had long since convinced herself that it was her mother's fault because she fell in love for power, not love.

Heidi ran to her room and flung herself onto her bed. Before she even knew what was happening she was sobbing into her pillow. This was too much to take. All feeling was gone, there were only tears.

Heidi lost track of time and she wasn't sure how long she just stayed in her room sobbing. When she did come out, though, it was starting to get dark outside. She examined herself in her mirror and nearly jumped out of her skin in shock. Her normally perfect platinum blonde hair was a tangled mess and her ocean-blue eyes were puffy and red. Her face had red streaks leading from her eyes all the way down to her chin from crying and she had red blotches all over her face, too. She hardly recognized herself.

Heidi went into the kitchen to get a vase and filled it with water. She took it outside and picked some of her mother's flowers to put in the vase. To her complete astonishment, all the flowers she even touched instantly died. She was confused. She touched and picked these flowers all the time. Now for some reason they just…died.

The incident with the flowers creeped Heidi out. She realized the she had to get out of there and fast. She had to get away from all the memories. Everyone had told her that it wasn't good to run from your fears, but this was different. She _had_ to. What if the flower killing was only the start of things to come? What if there was something seriously wrong with her? As unbearable as her father was, Heidi Wolk knew, at that precise moment, that she couldn't burden him further with a daughter with problems. It wouldn't be fair to him.

Heidi rushed up to her room and grabbed a backpack. She stuffed it with a few clothes and some other necessities before she realized that she would need money. She wasn't sure where she was planning on going, but money would definitely be helpful. She snuck into a room under the house where she knew her parents kept a lot of money. She stuffed her bag with as much money as she could fit and headed outside.

Once she was outside she went into the stables where all the horses were kept. Heidi silently walked up to her own horse, a grey Hanoverian named Karma Keno. She gave Keno a silent pat of reassurance and began grooming the stallion. Keno realized what that meant and started to get excited. He loved going for trail rides. This wasn't going to be an ordinary trail ride, though. Heidi had no idea where they were going.

Heidi groomed Keno thoroughly and tacked him up. She put the grooming tools and less food for him than he would need but all she could fit in the saddlebag. She led him out of the barn and mounted up. He was close to seventeen hands high and she had never mounted on him without help so this proved to be a challenge, but Keno seemed to understand that this was important and stood stock still. Once she was on, Heidi trotted Keno off her father's property and into the ever-darkening night.

"Hey, Rogue, can you come here for a minute?" Pyro called.

"Yeah, sure, what's up, Pyro?" Rogue asked.

"What's an eleven letter word for undercover?" Rogue looked over Pyro's shoulder and saw that he was doing a crossword puzzle.

"Clandestine," Storm said as she walked by. "John, Professor Xavier wants to see you in his office."

John looked stunned for a moment, but followed Storm into the professor's office.

"Thank you, Storm," Professor Xavier said. "I'll take it from here. John, follow me." Professor Xavier led Pyro into Cerebro. "John, I have a favor to ask of you," Xavier said. The familiar red lights of all of the mutants appeared and Pyro saw the one that the professor was trying to lock onto. It was a girl kneeling on the ground. She looked like she was sobbing into her hands.

"Who is that?" Pyro asked.

"Her name is Heidi Wolk," Professor Xavier said. "She's a German teenager and her mother has just passed away. I can't get anything else out of her mind, except that she's coming here—to the United States. I don't know anything more about the circumstances, but John, I want you to be there when she arrives and make sure that she finds her way here, okay?"

"Okay," Pyro said. "I think that's one assignment I can handle."

Professor Xavier smiled. "I knew I could count on you."


	2. A New Friend

It seemed like time was standing still but at the same time flying by. Wasn't that how traveling at the speed of light was supposed to feel? Heidi suddenly found herself and Keno in New York, as in the United States. How did she end up here? She remembered pushing Keno all the way to the Atlantic coast and taking a ferry, but it all seemed like a dream. Maybe it was. Maybe she would wake up and her life would be normal again.

Ellis Island had re-supplied her but the only thing she had been interested in getting was more food for Keno, who deserved it more than she did. They had also exchanged her money for American money, which really helped. Heidi didn't even know the United States _had_ different money. Why couldn't they just have one universal currency?

After Ellis Island Heidi climbed onto Keno's back once more. She hoped that he knew how much she appreciated him. She had been with Keno since she was twelve years old. Now they were both sixteen and had been through a lot together.

Heidi was wandering around New York for awhile on Keno's back and realized that he was breaking a sweat. Heidi slowed him to almost a complete stop and reached into the saddlebag to grab a cloth. She gently rubbed it up and down her horse's neck. Keno gave a snort of appreciation and sped up. Where the hell did all these cars come from, anyway? It was impossible to get anywhere. Apparently Keno had the same thought because he kept snorting, and no wonder. The only thing either of them had ever known was paradise.

Heidi made a split-second decision to put her past behind her. Whoever she happened to meet in this strange place didn't have to know about her mother's family or about how rich she was. That is providing, of course, that she made any friends. She was just a sixteen year old girl, now alone in the world besides her horse. What was she supposed to do? The people at Ellis Island said that they were going to find her a foster home, whatever the hell that was. Heidi just knew that she didn't like the sound of it and wasn't going. She'd find some way to evade them. She'd rather go back to Berlin, which was saying something.

The two of them were walking down the street and a boy who couldn't have been much older than Heidi kept trying to catch her eye. Heidi finally sighed and steered Keno over to him.

"Are you lost?" the boy asked her.

"No," Heidi replied a little too quickly. "What would've given you that idea?"

The boy shrugged. "You look like hell," he said. "Plus," he grinned, "you keep going in circles."

Heidi groaned. "Shit. You noticed, huh?" Heidi realized suddenly that even though she could speak English just as well as German she still sounded different from the boy she was talking to. Did everyone talk like him? Her "accent" might cause questions about her heritage, which would lead to her mother…

"Where's that accent from?" the boy asked her. "Germany?"

Heidi laughed. "Good guess. I'm from Berlin and I kind of ran away from home and ended up here."

The boy shrugged. "Didn't we all? I'm from California."

"Where's that?"

"_Way_ on the other side of the country. It's on the border of the Pacific Ocean."

Heidi couldn't help widening her eyes. "Wow," she croaked. She knew that America was a lot bigger of a country than Germany, which had been bad enough.

"So, anyway, I was going to ask if you'd share your horse and take me back to school."

"You go to school here?" Heidi asked in amazement. Why would he run away from home just to go to school? That was _odd_. Heidi had never been smart so most of the time she would purposely leave and stay gone until hours past when her tutor was supposed to come to her house.

"Yeah, it's a little more than a mile and a half down that way." He pointed over his shoulder. Heidi had no idea how long a mile and a half was. "Oh yeah," the boy realized. "You're European, aren't you? It's about two kilometers."

Two kilometers. That wasn't too far. "Does it have somewhere for my horse to rest?"

"Yeah; it's got an entire stable."

Heidi couldn't help but grin. She slid her foot out of the stirrup and extended her hand. The boy climbed up behind her and smiled at her. "You're a mutant, aren't you?"

"What makes you think that?" Heidi asked hurriedly. Mutants were bad. They were a minority. There was no way she could be one.

"Look, you have to trust me," the boy said. "Mutants aren't as bad as you think."

"You've got the wrong girl," Heidi insisted. "I'm not a mutant."

"Really? Then why are you here?"

"I—I was scared. I touched my mother's flowers and they…died. Just like that." Heidi wasn't exactly in a position to cover up the truth in that incident. If she really was a mutant, maybe this boy could find a way to help her. Besides, he was the closest thing she had to a friend right now. Also, in an oddly absurd way, it actually sort of made sense. Mutation was triggered by a traumatic experience, and her mother's death was certainly traumatic.

"See?" the boy said. "It's true."

Heidi grinned sheepishly. "Okay, what's your name?"

"John. I call myself Pyro." He smirked. "What about you?"

"I'm Heidi. I call myself Heidi."

Heidi couldn't help but notice that Pyro looked like he had accomplished something. They took off toward Pyro's school and he surprised her by asking, "Do you even have a destination?"

"No, not really."

"Well then why don't you stay at my school? It's a school specifically for people like us. For mutants."

"No, I better not," Heidi said. "I don't really do too well academically."

"It's not just academics, though," Pyro insisted. "Believe me, I'm not exactly the brightest kid around, either. It's really a sanctuary where Professor Xavier teaches us how to control our powers and use them correctly. You can at least try it for awhile. You've got nothing to lose."

As much as Heidi hated to admit it, she knew that Pyro was right. She agreed and by the time they got to the school (it was more than two kilometers) she was glad that he had offered. The place was full of activity. Pyro hopped off Keno's back and went to talk to a man wearing the weirdest glasses Heidi had ever seen. After a moment both of them walked over and the man said, "So you're the mutant, huh?"

"_The_ mutant?" Heidi asked.

"Yeah," the man said. "You're Heidi Wolk, aren't you?"

"Yes," Heidi said. How did this man know her? She was gripping the reins so tightly that her nails were starting to dig into her skin.

"Well, welcome. My name's Cyclops," the man said. "Just chill out and I'll go get the professor."

Pyro helped Heidi get off Keno, for which she was very grateful. Her legs felt jelly but luckily Pyro let her lean on him so she didn't fall over.

After what seemed like forever, the man came back accompanied by another old man in a wheelchair, who shook her hand. "Hello," he said. "My name is Charles Xavier. You must be Heidi."

How did _everyone_ know who she was? "Yes."

"And who's your horse?"

"Karma Keno. I just call him Keno, though."

"Scott, take Keno to the stables. Heidi, I'd like you to come with me, please."

Heidi hesitantly gave Keno a pat and followed the man inside. He led her into a huge room that looked like an office. He pointed to a chair and said, "Please, have a seat." Heidi slowly sat down and the man turned and smiled at her.

"So, Heidi, how did you come to be here?" Charles Xavier asked.

"I'm from Berlin but my mother died so I ran away from home and ended up here."

"How did you get here?"

"I rode Keno to the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and took a ferry to Ellis Island," Heidi said, staring at her lap. "By the way, what's a foster home?"

"It's where the government puts children who don't have another home to go to. It's not bad. It's just like a temporary family. Why?"

"The people at Ellis Island said they were going to put me in one."

"I'll talk to them. As long as you're here you're safe. This is a boarding school. So, Heidi, what's your mutant power?"

"Um, I touched my mother's flowers and they died."

Charles Xavier reached up and grasped something with his hands. Then he set it down on the desk in front of Heidi. She saw that it was a bug. "Show me."

Heidi hesitated for a split second and touched the bug.

"It's still alive," Heidi mused in amazement. Indeed, the bug immediately flew away.

"Did the incident with your mother's flowers happen before or after her death?"

"After," Heidi said hesitantly.

"And how did she die?"

"She had been sick for a long time. The doctors said they could fix her, though, and she still died."

"So it's safe to say you were angry at her doctors?"

"Yes! It's their fault!"

"It's possible that you're only able to cause death when you yourself are feeling extreme hatred."

"So…what do I do?"

"You're welcome to stay here if you wish. You will make new friends who will accept you for who you are and lean how to strengthen and control your powers."

The idea of having friends who truly accepted her for who she was was a concept that Heidi still had yet to grasp. In Berlin everyone knew about her but her only friends were people who admired her, not accepted her. She wasn't ready to push it, so she just nodded. "Do you really have a school here?"

"Yes. As a matter of fact I just finished teaching an Algebra 1 class."

"Well, uh, you should know that I'm not exactly the smartest person around."

"That's okay. Lots of students aren't bright. Nobody's going to force you to do anything, Heidi. Tell me, how old are you?"

"Sixteen." Heidi couldn't see how this was relevant to school.

Xavier nodded and even though he didn't do anything besides look a little dazed, a girl who looked about Heidi's age came in and said, "What is it, Professor?"

Heidi was shocked at the girl's appearance. She was reasonably tall with dark red hair but in the front she had shock-white highlights.

"Rogue, this is Heidi Wolk. Heidi, this is Marie, a.k.a. Rogue. Rogue, would you be so kind as to show Heidi around the mansion? If you're not too busy?"

Rogue looked a little uncertain but finally agreed. She smiled a not-reassuring smile and motioned for Heidi to follow her out of the room.

"Are you okay?" Heidi asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. So what's your story?" Rogue smiled that not-convincing smile again.

"What happened to your hair?" Growing up in a life of complete paradise and always getting everything she wanted had failed to teach Heidi a little thing called consideration.

"It's a long story." This subject really seemed to bother Rogue, but Heidi couldn't help it. She was curious.

"What happened?"

"Do you know who Magneto is?" Rogue asked her.

"No," Heidi admitted.

"Well, consider yourself lucky. He's a bad man. He was going to kill me so that he could turn all the world leaders into mutants. Into people like us."

"Why?"

"Why was he going to kill me? If I physically touch anyone for long enough I could kill them or, in a case of a mutant, absorb their power for awhile. Magneto wanted to use that to his advantage because the machine he was going to use used up a lot of energy so he just wanted the energy to come from me and not him."

"And your hair turned white because of it?"

"No, it wasn't the actual machine, according to the professor. He said it was the stress that Magneto put me through."

"That's horrible!" Heidi truly felt sympathy for Rogue, who seemed like such a nice person; distant, maybe, but nice all the same.

"Yeah," Rogue agreed. "It happened about a week ago and I still haven't gotten over it. I don't think I ever will. Logan just went off to go find his past or whatever so now, except for Pyro and Bobby, I'm all alone."

"Who's Logan?"

Rogue smiled. "He's like a father to me. We came here at the same time and he's saved my life, or at least tried, more times than I can count. Even at the possible expense of his own." Heidi could tell that Rogue was remembering something.

The two girls walked into a small room with minimal accessories. "This is your room," Rogue said. My room is next to this one, so if you need me for anything I'm right here."

"Thanks," Heidi said even though she was still trying to get over how small the room was. She finally decided that they were probably so small because you were only really in it to sleep.

Rogue walked over to Heidi's bed and sat on it. "So, what's your mutant power?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not exactly sure yet. Professor Xavier thinks that I can kill anything if I touch it while I'm full of hatred."

"Oh." Rogue looked like she was considering something. "I can relate to that. Except when I touch anything no matter what it tends to—"

"Die?"

"Or something close to it," Rogue said with a smile.

"So how do you touch people?" Heidi asked.

"I wear gloves," Rogue said. She held up her hands for Heidi to see. "I can't physically touch anyone. I have this friend here, Bobby, who I really want to get close to, but…I can't." Heidi could see that Rogue had a single tear in her eye.

"So, are you and Bobby—"

"No," Rogue said before Heidi could finish her sentence. "It's heading in that direction but we're just friends. I mean, how would you like it if the one you were supposed to love couldn't even touch you?"

"I couldn't tell you," Heidi replied honestly. "I've never really loved anybody before." Back home Heidi had a few friends, but she didn't really like any of them. Thinking of her friends back home only made her decision of secrecy more satisfying.

Rogue was looking at Heidi curiously. "So, now that you know all of my deepest, darkest secrets, what are all of yours?"

"My mother died so I ran away from home and ended up here," Heidi said. That was as deep and dark as she was willing to go.

"That's what I heard. I'm so sorry," Rogue said.

"Why does everyone know who I am and everything about me?" Heidi asked with a slightly aggravated tone. If someone could know that much about her without her knowing it, then there was no limit to what their knowledge could be. What if this entire journey was for nothing?

"The professor has this machine called Cerebro," Rogue explained. "He uses it to track mutants and humans. It connects him to every living thing on the planet, so when he focused in on you, he was able to read your mind." Heidi tried desperately if she had been thinking of anything private lately. "So, why did you run away after your mom died?" Rogue asked. She had a challenging look in her eyes.

"My mom had this brilliant idea when she was fifteen years old to defy everything that her family stood for and jump at what she thought was her one chance for power. As a result, my mother was the only human being that my father ever truly loved. I just knew that I would just be asking for trouble if I stuck around," Heidi explained. Rogue nodded sympathetically.

"Look, Heidi, I'm sorry if I haven't exactly been the nicest person ever," Rogue apologized. "I've just had a lot on my mind lately, but if you ever need to talk I'll listen, okay?"

"Okay," Heidi said. It felt better than she thought it would to have a true friend. "And Rogue?"

"Yeah?"

"That same offer goes for you, too."

Rogue smiled.


	3. Meeting the Gang

Rogue left Heidi in the room, claiming that she had something to take care of and would be back a little later to give Heidi a general tour of the mansion. Heidi walked over to her window and leaned against it. This was it. Everything that had happened, from her mother dying to winding up in America, had led to this. For better or worse, Heidi was a mutant.

Heidi had been taught her entire life that being different was bad. That was why she forced herself to be friends with people she didn't even really like all that much. Sure, they were okay, but Heidi didn't really feel any sort of connection with them.

Heidi was so wrapped up in her thoughts twenty minutes later that she didn't even notice when Rogue walked in until she said, "Heidi? You ready?"

Heidi instantly pulled herself back into reality. She hadn't moved from her spot by the window, but she turned around and put on a convincing smile. "Yeah," she said. "I'm ready."

The first place Rogue led Heidi to was the kitchen. Pyro was in there, along with another boy.

"Hey guys," Rogue greeted them.

"Hey Rogue," the boy Heidi didn't know said. "Who's this?"

Pyro rushed to Heidi's side and said, "This, my friend, is our newest meat. Meet Heidi Wolk."

"Hey, Heidi, I'm Bobby," the boy said.

"Hi," Heidi replied. "It's nice to meet you." No wonder Rogue liked him. He was cute and nice.

"Hey, good luck with your tour," Pyro said. "Bobby and I have something important to take care of."

Rogue laughed. "Just don't forget about the foosball tournament."

Pyro led Bobby out of the kitchen shaking his head. He said, "I knew there was a reason I liked her."

"What's his deal?" Heidi asked as Rogue led her into the next room. It looked like a rec room.

"Who Pyro? He's a showoff. He's been in a really good mood lately, too."

"Rogue?" Heidi asked.

"Yeah?"

"What's foosball?"

"You've never heard of foosball?" Rogue asked. She sounded amazed. Heidi assumed that it must be an American game. "I'll teach you how to play real quick. If you want you can come to our foosball tournament. It's at eight o' clock and a lot of kids are coming down to play or just watch. The winner gets a prize that Jean and Scott are currently debating. Knowing them, it'll be cool."

Rogue spent the next ten minutes teaching Heidi the basics of foosball. It looked like a fun game.

"So you're friends with Pyro?" Heidi asked Rogue as they continued their tour.

"Yep. He can get kind of annoying, but he's nice. Why?"

Heidi crinkled her face in consideration. "I'm not sure. Something about him is just…"

"Captivating," Rogue said knowingly. "I know."

It seemed like Rogue introduced Heidi to _everyone_. Heidi had never known so many people in her life. It felt so weird to have done so much and change so much in one day. If Heidi could've changed anything, though, she wouldn't. This was the first time she had ever had a real friend. You couldn't beat that. The amazing thing about that was that Rogue seemed to just be able to sense that Heidi needed her.

The foosball tournament was a blast. Heidi watched with Pyro as Rogue and Bobby foosed their way to victory.

"What do you think of the mansion so far?" Pyro asked Heidi. Rogue and Bobby were going somewhere with Scott and Jean to get their prize, and Pyro volunteered to take Heidi back to her room, which was a good thing because Heidi had no clue how to get there.

"It's good," Heidi said. "I mean, everybody's really nice and everything, but…"

"But what?" Pyro asked.

"I don't know. There's just something about it that doesn't feel right. Like something's missing."

"Reality?" Pyro guessed with a smile.

"No," Heidi said. She returned the smile.

"Seriously, Heidi, I know what you're talking about. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I promise I'll find out. For the both of us."

"Thanks."

"Good night, Heidi."

"Good night."

The next few days felt like heaven to Heidi. She had never been happier in her life. Since she ran away from home, she had never thought about her father. She never once wondered if he missed her, or if he even acknowledged her absence. She honestly wouldn't put it past him to forget about her completely. The scary thing was, though, that Heidi couldn't decide if she cared.


	4. Logan's Return

Exactly seven days after Heidi arrived at the mansion, she decided that she officially had a crush on Pyro. He was always so nice to her, and he was just so…understanding. No matter what Heidi told him, he was interested. She almost came close to telling him her secret, but luckily held back. She didn't know if she could trust him, and didn't want to chance it.

Day after day, Heidi found it harder and harder to believe that Rogue and Bobby weren't truly a couple. They constantly spent a ton of time together, and since Heidi was instantly and unofficially accepted into their group, she spent a lot of time with Pyro. He was so easy to be with. In a week, Heidi felt like she had known Rogue, Pyro and Bobby forever.

On Sunday night, Pyro asked Heidi if she would go for a walk with him around the grounds. Heidi accepted, mostly curious because he looked like he really needed to tell her something.

"Heidi, there's something I need to tell you," Pyro said pretty much as soon as they got started. "I've been thinking a lot about what you said your first night here. Something about this place isn't right. Professor Xavier has helped my powers beyond what I ever thought I was capable of, and I know he's helped you, too. I mean, we know exactly what your power is now and you can control it. You realize that in that category you're better than Rogue, right? I mean, you can't absorb mutant powers, but you can kill instantly. And you can control it."

"For the most part," Heidi said. "If something happens that fills me up with hatred and I don't have any control over it then I don't have any control over my power. If I'm really, really happy then I can't make myself mad enough to kill anything."

"Exactly. That just means you need to work at controlling your emotions. You're a girl, though. You'll be fine."

"I'm not like normal girls," Heidi said. "Unless American girls are a lot different than German girls."

"Define different," Pyro requested.

Heidi shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, I can't cry. Or at least I thought I couldn't. I'd never been able to until when my mom died I just suddenly started sobbing. It was weird. Like my body didn't know how to react to it. I've never loved anyone before I came here, either."

"So basically being in America changed you completely?"

"Life is just so much different here," Heidi said. "In Berlin, my parents always made absolute sure that I had the best of everything. I could see all of the normal people around me and I was just like…I don't know. Numb to it all. Like I knew it was happening but didn't really understand the extent of it."

"What's happening?" Pyro asked curiously.

"Not everything in the world is perfect," Heidi said. She smiled shyly. "As conceited as it sounds, my parents were determined to hide it from me, but eventually you kind of figure that sort of thing out, you know?"

"Heidi, I've known you for a week," Pyro said. "It's pathetic. You shouldn't be allowed to do this."

"Do what?" Keep a secret like hers from someone you love?

"Become so close to someone in that short of a time period."

Heidi shrugged. "I'm not complaining."

When Heidi and Pyro went back inside after about another hour, they came so close to kissing it gave Heidi goose bumps. She wanted to kiss him so bad, but at the same time she was deathly terrified of the concept. She didn't want to be like her mother.

The next day, Rogue walked up to Heidi with a big grin on her face. She was literally glowing from ear to ear.

"What's up with you?" Heidi asked her.

"What? I'm not allowed to be happy?" Rogue teased.

"That happy? Without an explanation? As your girl best friend, I hereby forbid it!" Heidi grinned.

"I…am officially Bobby's girlfriend!" Rogue exclaimed triumphantly.

"Congratulations!" Heidi exclaimed even though everyone knew that it was bound to happen.

"I know, right? I'm so excited!"

"Good. I'm happy for you," Heidi said. Happy wasn't really the right word, though. It was more like…content. Like that this was how it was supposed to be.

"What about you and Pyro?" Rogue asked. "Anybody can see that you two have a little something going on."

Heidi shrugged. "I don't know. I kind of want to, but at the same time I don't."

"Well then I'm probably not the best person to talk to right now."

"Hey, ladies," Bobby said as he and Pyro walked over to them. "What's up?"

"We're just talking," Rogue said in a joking defensive way.

"Storm told us to find you and tell you that they're getting ready for the museum tour and they need your help," Pyro said.

"Okay, come on, Heidi," Rogue said. She eagerly skipped toward the front hall and Heidi followed her.

"Oh, girls, thank goodness you're here," Storm exclaimed as soon as she saw them. "Rogue, can you go over to the food court and start making the food? We're going to need you to work it, too, if you can. Can you do that?"

"Sure," Rogue said.

"Grr. We are _so_ unprepared," Storm complained. "Heidi, can you go help Jean and Scott with getting all of the signs hooked up?"

"Yeah, sure," Heidi said. She jogged over to Jean and Scott. Jean was trying to hold up the signs and hold up Scott at the same time so Scott could hook up the banners, but it wasn't working very well.

"Heidi, thanks for coming," Jean said. "If I lift you up there can you hang onto the pole so Scott can throw you the sign?"

"Sure," Heidi said. It was a very weird feeling when Jean lifted her up. She felt so weightless. She grabbed onto the pole, and it took all of her upper body strength to pull herself on top of it. She grasped the pole in front of her to try to help her balance. Scott threw the banner up to her and she caught it with one hand while still holding onto the pole in front of her for balance. She brought it up to her and tied the knot while Scott did the one on bottom. Jean was already scavenging for the next banner.

Within twenty minutes the three of them were able to work together to get all of the banners up. They actually looked very good. Pretty much as soon as they were done, Professor Xavier wheeled up and said, "It looks good."

Heidi turned and smiled at him.

"Thanks again for your help, Heidi," Jean said. She and Scott went off to turn on all of the TVs and computers.

"No problem," Heidi said.

"Heidi, I need to talk to you for a moment," Professor Xavier told her. He led her into his office, just like he had the first day Heidi was here.

"What's up, Professor?" Heidi asked. His expression was completely unreadable.

"Heidi, we need to discuss a further course of action as far as your mutant power goes," the professor said. "We know that your power is that with enough hatred, you can kill anything you touch. The trouble is, though, that eventually you'll have to decide if you want to be able to use that power to suppress it or to call upon it whenever it's convenient. Either way, we have to help you to be able to control it better. There will be times when somebody could make you so angry, so…full of hatred, and you could end up killing your best friend without realizing it. There may be a time when it is in your best interest to cause death. You must be able to call upon your power when the time comes."

"So what are you saying I should do?" Heidi asked.

The professor reached into his desk and pulled out a book called Controlling Your Emotions by an author Heidi had never heard of. He handed it to her. "First of all, I'd like you to read the passage I've marked in this book. That will give you a good start, then we'll see what we can do about maybe getting Storm or Jean to give you one-on-one help. Okay?"

"Okay," Heidi agreed. "Thank you, Professor."

She stood up to leave, but Xavier stopped her. "Heidi? One more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Have patience. You have a remarkable power, but if you can't control it it's of no use to you."

"Oh, Professor?" Heidi sat back down, still clutching the book.

"Yes?"

"There's been something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What is it?" Professor Xavier wheeled a little bit closer to her.

"Do people have to be like their parents?"

"No, not necessarily. The thing about that is, you inherit certain traits from you parents, but what you do with them is your choice. For instance, one may inherit creativity from a parent who is an artist, and use that to become an architect."

"Well, if I inherited, say, a weakness to something, would I definitely have it?"

"It depends. Just because one of your parents has a weakness to, say, cold weather, doesn't mean that you'll have to wear a winter coat in springtime. It would make you more prone to a weakness, but won't guarantee you'll have it. It's like having family history of a disease."

"Oh, okay. Thanks."

"Heidi, we can continue this conversation later, but right now we need to get to the food court."

Heidi hurriedly followed the professor down to the food court. She saw Pyro, Bobby, and Rogue with two boys who were apparently tourists. Rogue and Bobby were sitting; Pyro was standing in front of the two boys, who were standing one in front of the other. Heidi saw that one of the boys had Pyro's shark lighter he always carried around.

"Suddenly you're not so tough," the other boy said. All of a sudden, the boy with the lighter caught fire and Bobby put it out. The boy started breathing heavily, and suddenly all of the people around them just froze.

"Bobby, what did you do?" Rogue asked.

"I didn't do this," Bobby insisted.

"No, I did," Professor Xavier said. He wheeled forward and turned to Pyro. "And the next time you feel like showing off, don't."

Pyro caught Heidi's eye and winked at her. Heidi walked over to him and he hugged her.

"Breaking news. We're coming to you live from Washington where there's been an attack in the Oval Office of the White House," the TV said. "Details are still coming in, but we have been informed that the president and vice president were not harmed. Sources say the attack involved one or more mutants…"

Thoughts started running through Heidi's mind. The professor wanted her to be able to control her powers, but he didn't say anything like 'Don't use your power for evil.' Apparently if a mutant had attacked the White House (which, she learned, was where the president lived) that mutant could've done with a lecture like that, though.

"Professor, I think it's time to go," Scott said. Heidi wondered where they were going.

"Yes, you're right," Professor Xavier said.

All at once the humans started coming to, and the boy that had caught fire started breathing heavily again. The other boy looked directly at Heidi, openly confused, but she just smiled at him.

After all of the humans left, Rogue and Bobby left and Heidi offered to help clean up since the adults were going to talk with Professor Xavier. Pyro just stood there, watching her. A few times Heidi turned and smiled self consciously at him, but for the most part she just accepted that he was staring at her.

After everything was cleaned up, Pyro wanted to go look for Rogue and Bobby, which proved to be a difficult task. Heidi suggested that they were probably hiding on purpose, but Pyro didn't agree. They finally found them in the entrance hall, where Rogue was talking to a strange and hairy man Heidi had never seen before.

"How you doing?" the man asked Rogue.

"I'm okay, how are you?" Rogue asked.

The man shrugged and gestured toward Bobby and said, "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is Bobby. He's my—" Rogue was grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm her boyfriend." Bobby reached his hand out to shake the man's hand and said, "Call me Iceman."

"Right. Boyfriend? So how do you guys—"

Bobby and Rogue looked at each other and Bobby said, "Well, we're still working on that."

"Ah, I see," the man said. "And who are they?" He pointed at Pyro and Heidi.

"That's Pyro, and that's Heidi," Rogue said, pointing to both of them. "Pyro, Heidi, this is Logan."

So _that was Logan_, Heidi thought to herself. He was certainly…interesting.

"Look who's come back just in time." They all turned to see Storm walking down the steps.

"For what?" Logan asked.

"We need a baby-sitter," Storm said. She smiled at Heidi.

"Baby-sitter?" Logan didn't sound thrilled.

"It's nice to see you again, Logan."

"Hi, Logan." Jean came down the stairs too. Heidi could tell by the way they regarded each other that they had some kind of history.

"Hi Jean," Logan said somewhat nervously.

"Uh, I should…go get the jet ready," Storm said. She left.

"Yeah, well, it was good to meet you," Bobby said. He pulled Rogue away and Heidi and Pyro followed. Now Heidi knew there was a history between Logan and Jean. She couldn't help but wonder what it was.


	5. Shadows of the Past

Heidi and Rogue spent the rest of the afternoon in Rogue's room talking. Finally they decided to go to bed, so Heidi went into her room and lied on her bed, but she couldn't fall asleep. There was an unknown thought that kept bugging her, like she forgot to do something and couldn't remember what it was. Finally, around midnight, she fell into a fitful sleep.

After what seemed like only a few minutes, Heidi was awoken by a horrible shrieking noise. Then suddenly the entire mansion was in chaos. Heidi could hear gunshots firing and people screaming everywhere. Heidi instantly ran out of her room into the din outside. Heidi could see Rogue had already taken off, but she followed the general stampede of people until she saw Pyro.

"Pyro!" she shouted. He instantly stopped and turned to face her. She ran over to him and he hugged her tightly.

"Thank goodness you're okay," he said. "Have you seen Bobby or Rogue?"

"No, but I know Rogue left her room," Heidi said.

"Okay, we have to find them."

Pyro grasped Heidi's hand and they took off down the hallway together.

"John!" Pyro and Heidi both stopped and turned to see Bobby coming toward them. "Hey, where's Rogue?" he asked.

"We don't know," Pyro said.

"We gotta find her," Bobby said. He took of in the other direction. Pyro and Heidi exchanged a glance and took off after him. The three of them ran amidst the chaos until Bobby finally spotted her. "Rogue!" Bobby called.

"Bobby!" Rogue exclaimed. She ran over to join them. "This way," she demanded. She led them toward the way she had come and suddenly stopped dead. The window exploded and all four of them ducked for cover. They turned around the corner and simply kept running. Heidi wasn't sure what exactly was going on, but she didn't want to know. She just wanted for all four of them to come out of it alive.

They ran frantically this way and that, and suddenly out a nowhere a door opened and flashlights were shined in their faces, causing them to stop. Heidi's heart was literally pounding against her chest and she was soaked in sweat. She saw that Pyro was, too, but it didn't make her feel any better. His normal body temperature was probably, like, a hundred degrees.

Out of nowhere, Logan jumped down, claws out, and killed the guys closest to them. Then he stabbed the soldiers on either side and threw them over his head. The only thing he had to say for it was, "Let's go."

All four of them followed him down a hallway until Bobby found a door. He pounded on it and it opened. "This is it," he said. All of them eagerly ran in, and suddenly the door closed again.

"Logan!" Rogue exclaimed. Heidi suddenly noticed that Logan wasn't with them. Shit! The four of them ran down a flight of steps when Rogue suddenly exclaimed, "Wait! Wait, you guys, we gotta do something. They're gonna kill him!"

"He can handle himself," Pyro said. "Let's go."

"Heidi?" Rogue pleaded.

Heidi looked from Rogue to Pyro. They both needed her. "He knew what he was doing, Rogue," she finally said. "There was a reason he closed the door." She walked over and stood next to Pyro.

"I don't believe this!" Rogue exclaimed. "Bobby!" Bobby looked at her and Heidi realized that her face was desperate. "Please," she begged.

"You two get Logan and bring him down here," Pyro said. "Heidi and I will be waiting."

Rogue nodded and took off. Bobby followed her. "Come on, Heidi," Pyro said. Heidi had no idea where he was headed, but followed him anyway. It seemed like thoughts were surpassing her brain and turning straight into actions.

Pyro suddenly stopped. He turned to face Heidi and grabbed her wrist. "Thanks for sticking by me," he said quietly. Heidi wanted to kiss him so badly again, but somehow she couldn't make herself do it. Pyro started to come toward her.

"We should go," Heidi said suddenly. She looked down and tucked her hair behind her ears. "They'll be waiting for us."

"You're right," Pyro said. They took off down yet another hallway. Then Pyro found a way up and jumped up. He moved the wire thing on top of it and pulled himself up. Then he helped Heidi up just as Logan, Rogue, and Bobby came. Pyro suddenly started running toward a car and said, "I'm driving."

Logan pushed Pyro out of the way and said, "Hey. Maybe next time."

As it turned out, Logan was driving, Rogue was in the passenger seat, and Heidi, Bobby, and Pyro were in the back. Pyro was in the middle.

They sped out of the garage and out of the property all together.

"What the hell was that back there?" Pyro suddenly asked. Heidi was curious about that, too.

"Stryker," Logan said. "His name is Stryker."

"Who is he?" Rogue asked quietly.

"I can't remember," Logan said. He sounded frustrated. Heidi felt uneducated.

They drove for a little while longer, and suddenly out of nowhere, Pyro leaned forward. "I don't like uncomfortable silences," he said. He reached out and turned on the radio. NSYNC music blared out of the speakers, and they all turned their heads in disgust. Heidi had never actually heard the song before, but she knew it was NSYNC because a lot of people talked about them. Now she couldn't see why. Their music was horrible.

Pyro turned it off pretty much instantly and what looked like an odd-looking cell phone came out. "I don't think that's the CD player," Pyro said. Heidi shot him a surprised look even though he couldn't see her.

"Sit back," Logan suddenly said. When Pyro resumed his original position, Heidi felt more comfortable. Even though it was a little cramped, it was a comfortable cramped that she liked.

They decided to go to Boston, where Bobby's family lived. Apparently Storm and Jean were in Boston, too, tracking down the mutant who attacked the president. Heidi wondered how they would all react when they found out about the mansion.

Luckily, Bobby knew where a spare key was kept and he let them in. "Mom? Dad? Ronny? Is anybody home?" Bobby called. Pyro kept opening and closing his lighter. Bobby turned to Rogue. "I'll try to find you some clothes," he said. Then he turned to Pyro. "Don't burn anything," he said. Pyro shrugged guiltily.

Bobby and Rogue went upstairs to get Rogue clothes, Logan went into the kitchen to try and find out how to work the weird cell phone, and Pyro and Heidi started to look around.

Heidi caught Pyro looking at a picture of what had to be Bobby's family. She saw that his face was kind of a mixture of longing and contempt.

"It makes you wonder, doesn't it?" Heidi asked, coming up behind him.

"Wonder what?" Pyro asked.

"What it would be like to have a normal family. To leave a gap in their lives when you leave. Have them care where you go." Heidi shrugged. "It just makes you wonder." She could tell by the look on Pyro's face that she had pretty much hit it dead on.

They came so close to kissing again, but at that moment there was a commotion and Bobby's family walked in. Heidi felt really stupid that the first thing they saw was a strange man standing in front of their open refrigerator drinking their beer.

"Who the hell are you?" Bobby's father asked.

Bobby and Rogue suddenly came down. "There's something I need to tell you," Bobby said.

All of them went into the sitting room and explained to Bobby's parents about him and the rest of them being mutants. Heidi couldn't help but notice that Bobby's brother looked really pissed off. She wondered why. It wasn't like _he_ was the mutant. After Bobby froze his mother's coffee, his brother took off and went upstairs.

"This is all my fault," Bobby's mother said when Ronny left.

"Actually, they discovered that males are the ones who carry the mutant gene and pass it on, so…it's his fault," Pyro said, gesturing toward Bobby's father. Heidi couldn't help but think that at least her father had done one truly nice thing for her. She couldn't be happier at Xavier's mansion.

They continued talking, interrupted only by the weird cell phone beeping and Logan going on the porch to answer it. When he came back inside, he said, "We have to go. Now."

"Why?" Rogue asked.

"Now!" Logan demanded.

"Logan, what's wrong?" Rogue asked in a more pleading voice.

Logan let out his claws and walked out the door. Rogue, Bobby, Pyro, and Heidi all followed him. There were police cars outside! And the police were pointing guns at them!

"Drop the knives and put your hands in the air," a policeman on the porch said to Logan.

"This is just a misunderstanding," Logan said.

"Put the knives down!" the policeman demanded.

"I can't," Logan said simply. "Look." He lifted his arm up and suddenly the policeman shot him square in the forehead, taking them all by complete surprise. Rogue yelped and Heidi grasped Pyro's shirt.

"All right. The rest of you, on the ground now," the policeman said. Bobby and Rogue immediately lied down, but Pyro refused. Once again, Heidi was forced to choose between Pyro and Rogue. Once again, she chose Pyro. She was confidant that he would protect her. She let go of him quickly, though. Just in case Rogue or Pyro was killed, she didn't want to be touching anything. She could feel herself on the brink of reaching toward her powers when Logan was shot.

Heidi looked to Pyro for instruction. They looked into each other's eyes and neither of them made a sound. Then Pyro said, "You know all those dangerous mutants you hear about on the news?" He opened his lighter. "I'm the worst one." Heidi knew that wasn't true, but the police didn't have to know that. Within seconds Pyro practically had the entire lawn in flames. Policemen, cars, trees, you name it. It was very scary but kind of cool in a way, too. Surprising as it sounds, Heidi had never felt safer in her life.

He kept shooting flames. Finally Rogue hissed, "Heidi, do something!"

"What?" she demanded. "I'm scared that if I touch anything I'll kill it."

Rogue shook her head in disgust and took off her glove. Heidi knew what she was going to do a split-second before she did it. She grabbed Pyro's ankle, and therefore starting draining his power. Pyro suddenly looked like he was being choked. The fire died down and he fell to his knees. Shortly after, Heidi heard a _ping_ and Logan stood up. He wasn't dead? Heidi had seen him get shot in the head! You couldn't survive that! The jet Storm and Jean had taken to Boston landed in the front yard. As it was landing, Pyro gave Heidi a look of appreciation and Rogue a look of surprise. Heidi felt good. She grasped Pyro's hand and they walked toward the jet.

Heidi had seen the outside of the jet, but never the inside. It looked so big, even though the outside looked really small and thin. She was a half-step behind Pyro getting on and she heard a voice say, "_Guten tag_."

Heidi excitedly looked around Pyro and saw none other than The Incredible Nightcrawler sitting on the jet. Her parents had taken her to Munich on a vacation three months ago, just before her mother got sick, and she had seen The Incredible Nightcrawler at the circus. He looked so much different up close.

"_Ach! Guten tag!_" Heidi told him. Apparently he hadn't seen her get on the jet, and he flinched.

"Hello, Heidi," he said nervously.

"You two know each other?" Pyro asked. Heidi noticed that he had regarded Nightcrawler a little suspiciously, as did Rogue and Bobby. Logan just seemed plain annoyed.

"I saw him at the circus," Heidi said. "He's awesome. He can be at one end of the ring and at the next in less than a second. It's like—wait, you're a mutant, aren't you?"

"Well spotted," Nightcrawler said. "Does anybody mind me asking what _she's_ doing here?"

"What's wrong with her?" Pyro asked.

"What's wrong with her?" Nightcrawler asked in amazement, as if he was surprised that Pyro didn't know. "She's—"

"Shh!" Heidi demanded. She knew that he was about to announce the secret she had been trying so hard to keep. "Nightcraw—Kurt, please. Don't say it."

"They don't know? And these people consider you their friend?"

"You don't even know me," Heidi said. She walked over to him and kneeled in front of him. "I'm not like my parents, I promise," she said quietly. "Just, please, shut up."

"Yes your royal highness," Nightcrawler said irritably. Heidi stood up and turned so nobody could see her before she let out a relieved sigh. That was too close.

The flight was mostly calm. Heidi was sitting in the seat behind Nightcrawler, so she could see all of the apprehensive looks he was shooting her way. She didn't have any psychic powers, but she silently willed him to just keep his mouth shut until she could properly convince him that she wasn't a miniature of her mother. She didn't look anything like her mother, but to the public their personalities were similar. It wasn't true, though.

After awhile, Logan went up with Storm and Jean and asked, "How far are we?"

"We're actually coming up on the mansion now," Jean said. Heidi was relieved to hear that. That meant that soon this whole nightmare would be over.

"I've got two signals approaching," Storm said. "Coming in fast."

Sure enough, they heard someone say, "Unidentified aircraft, you are ordered to descend to 20,000 feet. Return with our escort to Hanscom Air Force base. You have ten seconds to comply."

"Wow, somebody's angry," Storm said.

"I wonder why," Logan said sarcastically. He looked at Pyro, who simply raised his eyebrows. Nightcrawler looked at Heidi, who just glared at him.

"Lower your altitude now," the aircraft carrier said. "Repeat. Lower your altitude to 20,000 feet. This is your last warning."

Suddenly, they dropped back. Heidi wondered why but not for too long.

"They're marking us. They're going to fire! Hold on!" Storm exclaimed. Heidi was buckled in, but she tightened the straps and held onto the buckle. The jet suddenly doubled in speed and started spinning. Storm may call it shaking them, but it seemed to Heidi like they were the ones doing most of the shaking.

"Please don't do that again," Pyro said.

"Don't we have any weapons in this heap?" Logan demanded. It suddenly started to get really cloudy and tornadoes were appearing left and right. Storm was completely undaunted, though, which told Heidi that the storm had been created on purpose. That made her feel better. The thought occurred to her that she would be a lot more dangerous if her mutant power was triggered by fear.

Something started beeping, and Storm said, "There're two of them." Nothing happened, but a moment later she said, "There's still one more." Not even ten seconds after that, the back of the jet completely blew up.

Before anyone could react, Rogue screamed and flew out of the jet.

"Rogue!" Bobby called in desperation.

Heidi shoved the seat in front of her. "Go get her," she pleaded desperately. Nightcrawler nodded and teleported out of the jet and back in with Rogue in his arms. Suddenly the jet started falling. They were falling fast with no hope of respite.

Suddenly, though, the hole in the back of the jet started closing up. The jet started slowing down, too. Then finally, it stopped. Everyone was jarred a little bit.

"You guys," Heidi said, "they only wanted us to descend to 20,000 feet."


End file.
